NOTE, 
NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF AN ABNORMAL BISPORANGIATE 
STROBILUS OF LARIX EUROPAEA, DC. — In April, 1912, a specimen of an 
abnormal cone of Larix europaea bearing both mega- and microsporangia was 
gathered from a tree at Kiveton Park, Yorks. A careful search failed to discover any 
other similar specimens on the branches of the same tree within reach. The cone was 
thrown into methylated spirit soon after gathering, and later it was embedded in 
paraffin and completely sectioned in the vertical direction by microtome. 
The strobilus was of about the same size as the ordinary female cones of Larch 
at the time of the year when it was obtained. The upper half of the cone was com- 
posed of normally developed megasporophylls, and the lower part of microsporophylls. 
The intermediate region between the two kinds of sporophylls was occupied by 
a narrow zone of small, sterile scales exhibiting no definite form or structure. 
Fig. 1. Somewhat oblique 
tangential section of abnormal 
microsporophyll. m., microspor- 
angia ; v. b., vascular bundle. 
Fig. 2. Median radial vertical section 
of abnormal microsporophyll. 
While most of the microsporophylls were normally developed, those next to the 
zone of indeterminate scales showed various abnormalities. The microsporangia 
were reduced in size, and sometimes one was smaller than the other. Nevertheless, 
the development of the pollen-grains was scarcely affected, and some of them were 
sufficiently far advanced to show the two flattened and disorganized prothallial cells, 
the generative cell and tube cell. 
The most abnormal feature, however, in several of the microsporophylls 
adjoining the abortive sporophylls, was the possession of a peculiar downwardly 
.directed process, growing from between the two microsporangia. The form and 
position of this structure are shown in the two accompanying figures, where it 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXVII. No. CVII. July, 1913.] 
